Board 8 > my top anime OPs + EDs, plus chatting some anime in general

(+) Yeah! (+)

Inspired by the contest obviously.

So I went through my MAL which hasn't been all that updated lately, looked through anime that I remembered having nice OPs/EDs, and looked up those themes on animethemes.moe which I totally didn't realize it was a thing.

The themes I chose here are unabashedly tainted by the fact of my actual watching - the more times I actually watched an OP/ED the higher it'll rise, and the more I liked a show the more likely I would've been to watch those. But then, there are plenty of shows where I barely watched the OP and ED at all even if they were decent and I liked the show. It can be a bit arbitrary, so need to take things too personal.

There will also be a few from anime I didn't particularly love. I'll probably talk less about those anime, and may talk about a few that didn't make it onto the list!

I looked through the bracket of that contest and hardly any of my favorites are in it, but my music tastes feel pretty unconventional compared to the rest of the board (as evidenced by the Mega Man music contest too apparently).

Tag

34. My Soul, Your Beats! - Angel Beats OP
https://animethemes.moe/anime/angel_beats/OP1-NCBD1080

Was never a big fan of the Angel Beats anime, but one thing it did have going for it was a nice soundtrack. The piano bit at the beginning and end of this hits nicely - that's probably the best part of it visually as well!

As for the anime itself... I found it largely unmemorable. Maybe I'd find it more emotional today than I did back when I did watch it, but I don't see it becoming enough of a priority to go back to anytime soon.

33. Uragiri no Yuuyake - Durarara!! OP1
https://animethemes.moe/anime/durarara/OP1-NCBD1080

I've got OP1 of DRRR here. It's rocking and manic and has a fun way of introducing every character (like Baccano!), zipping through the city and getting closeups on each character. Favorite part is the rockin' section that plays at 0:27-0:55 and then again at 1:07, especially the focus on the hotheaded superstrong Shizuo and the trolling Izaya.

I liked DRRR as an anime. It's got a wide cast and is pretty funny overall and perhaps even more importantly, generally fun. However, it doesn't have much overarching plot and it didn't feel like we got a ton of continuity. The headless rider seemed like she might be a point of cohesion, but the second half of the anime delved into a bit of a weird arc with the child characters, which mostly ended in status quo and kinda sidelined the more fun angles of the cast. I know there are further seasons of it, but I think I can probably safely assume they're also fairly episodic/arc-contained.

I'm actually a bit surprised neither of those OP's were in the contest. I like the Durarara one especially.

Yeah, the Angel Beats OP is great. I'd like to watch the show again sometime.

Unrepresented favorite anime - Full Metal Panic!

I watched FMP half a lifetime ago and admittedly most of the stuff with giant robots didn't really catch my attention. But Kaname was cute and Sousuke's relationship with her (along with his general awkwardness/craziness) became one of my absolute favorite things in an anime. The Fumoffu season is possibly my favorite comedic season and The Second Raid was phenomenal. Admittedly I don't know how I'd feel with a more critical eye so much later, and the fact I can't remember many plot points doesn't speak in its favor - but it made such an incredibly strong impression that it'll always be a sentimental favorite.

(And unfortunately, I don't think any of its OP/EDs made strong enough an impression to include here! Closest pick would be Fumoffu's ED probably, featuring everyone marching along the border of the frame)

I love Second Raid's OP.

Did you watch season 4 when it came out a few years ago?

I wonder if they'll ever make a season 5 to finish the story.

I didn't watch S4. was it good? and have you read the original LNs?

I watched TSR's OP while compiling the list, but in the end decided not to include it - I just don't have much memory of it!

I nominated the Angel Beats OP in the other contest, it just didn't get support from anyone else! Good list so far for including it, though. Excited to see the rest

I liked it! I don't think it was as good as Fumoffu or Second Raid, but it was solid. Also I looked up when Season 4 came out, and it was 2018! How was that 5 years ago already?

I've read the light novels that the anime has covered, but I've held off on reading the last three just in the off chance there's a season 5 because I'd like to watch the anime without knowing what happened first.

Robazoid posted...

I nominated the Angel Beats OP in the other contest, it just didn't get support from anyone else! Good list so far for including it, though. Excited to see the rest

angel beats is one of my least favorite anime represented here, and i never think about it - but i'm glad i went back to listen to its OP! based on from what i can remember about your fav anime list though, i'm not sure you'll love much else left on this list!

LeonhartFour posted...

I liked it! I don't think it was as good as Fumoffu or Second Raid, but it was solid. Also I looked up when Season 4 came out, and it was 2018! How was that 5 years ago already?

I've read the light novels that the anime has covered, but I've held off on reading the last three just in the off chance there's a season 5 because I'd like to watch the anime without knowing what happened first.

well, i guess i'll just hold off on S4 until we get news of S5! (i also don't subscribe to crunchyroll - maybe if it ever starts looking like a good time in my life to be watching a lot of anime legally that's not available on netflix/hulu...)

---

queuing up a few more for tomorrow!

well there was over a decade between season 3 and season 4, and as far as I can tell, there's been no news of a season 5 as of yet

hopefully we won't have to wait quite as long this time

and who knows, maybe one day we'll get Haruhi season 3

yeah and maybe one day the Haruhi light novels will be completed

th3l3fty posted...

yeah and maybe one day the Haruhi light novels will be completed

hey we got a new light novel 3 years ago (that didn't advance the main plot a single iota), there's still a chance

32. Can Do - Kuroko no Basket OP1
https://animethemes.moe/anime/kuroko_no_basket/OP1-BD1080

When it comes to longer-runners, often the first OP is the most iconic. That's the case here; I think you could also make a case for OP1 of Season 3, but this one has a memorable riff and a nice YOU CAN DO IT repetition to make it extra-catchy. Sports shounens make for pretty great OP opportunities because the action scene-highlights are so obvious.

The actual anime... I mean, I watched all of it and ate that shit up. The powers of the Generation of Miracles are preposterous, and the whole premise - that Kuroko has "so little presence" he can disappear - is the most preposterous of those. It loops around into greatness again when they introduce Zone and laser beams start shooting out of their eyes. In the end, I enjoy basketball and ridiculous anime powers, so combining the two was fine. I just think I would have liked it a bit more if we ever saw someone miss a shot without its having been blocked. Like I'm not sure if we see a single shot actually brick! I also had an issue that I often do with the naive and hotheaded protagonists in a shounen - I'm rooting for the villains and the good guys keep winning because plot.

Favorite character was Aomine with his STREETBALL style.

31. Tank! - Cowboy Bebop OP (Cowboy Bebop song 1 of 2)
https://animethemes.moe/anime/cowboy_bebop/OP-BD

Tank! is an iconic OP, though back when I first watched Cowboy Bebop, it wasn't as near and dear to my heart. I didn't love the anime as much as many others did, and it's kind of... loud. This part actually still sticks out to me; however, if I turn down the sound, I can handle it a lot better. Plus it's a bit of a different genre. Not a bad genre, but if you like anime OPs, you generally like j-rock!

The biggest reason Tank! has improved in my rankings is probably because of two properties that came around over a decade after the anime run - the Netflix series and the Archer cartoon. Archer's opening is an inferior version of Tank! (and in the same genre of music!) while the Netflix series's single strongest selling point was its recreation of Tank! So by sheer repetition and exposure, I've actually developed nostalgia and fondness for it. Plus it's objectively beautiful with the silhouetted action and the highly stylized backgrounds. (I generally actually prefer the more generic shounen style of animations, but the uniqueness of CB's has grown on me with time.)

Like the theme song itself, Cowboy Bebop has grown on me with time. But I'll get to that when we get to our final CB song.

I love the first 10 seconds of Tank

The Angel Beats OPs is great, problem is there's multiple songs from Lia that are great so it split the backing.

All of these have been better than like half the stuff that made it in the contest imo! Good stuff. Wonder what my list would look like haha

prefer The Other Self and Memories from Kuroko personally

30. Odoru Akachan Ningen - Welcome to the NHK! ED1
https://animethemes.moe/anime/nhk_ni_youkoso/ED1-NCDVD480

Oh man, this one is weird. The first few seconds of piano are fantastic, and then it immediately goes really weird. Both the shouting vocals and the dancing creature are disturbing and hideous. But... that's the point, right? I decided to keep one of the ED and the OP for this anime - the OP is a lot more conventional and enjoyable to listen to, but in the end I decided against it because of its fanservice-y vibe.

The acid trip that is this ED really fits the vibe of NHK, which I loved back during its original run. I've never tried rewatching it, and I also wonder about how this holds up - I remember it having a super-strong first half and an uneven back half with a hilariously inconsistent animation budget, and I remember reading pretty deep into its (darker) manga but retaining little of that. While luckily I never quite became a hikokomori, I think many people can see parts of themselves in Satou. It's fun to cook up conspiracy theories, but the possibility of being truly directionless in life is terrifying. You hope to have the support system Satou finds in his neighbors.

I'm also a basic bitch for plots with a decent love triangle (FMP! agrees), especially the contrast in the competing love interests. Senpai is dark and mysterious and disturbed, while Misaki is more of the deconstructed manic pixie dream girl. It's a bit of a reductive way of viewing women of course for a male-oriented show, but I do think many women can be represented as somewhere between the two.

SeabassDebeste posted...

the OP is a lot more conventional and enjoyable to listen to, but in the end I decided against it because of its fanservice-y vibe

That's a shame, I really like Puzzle, at least the song.

MysteriousStan posted...

All of these have been better than like half the stuff that made it in the contest imo! Good stuff. Wonder what my list would look like haha

it'll probably get filled with more songs that people don't care for, or that are already in the contest, as it gets higher!

KommunistKoala posted...

prefer The Other Self and Memories from Kuroko personally

memories is pretty good, but i don't really have a strong memory of its tune. OP1 is probably less good overall, but it's more iconic, and since i don't actually super-love all these tunes, i wound up going with it. there's a reason they use OP1 in the final episode!

Sceptilesolar posted...

That's a shame, I really like Puzzle, at least the song.

i actually like the opening animations too. maybe puzzle does deserve a spot, but at least NHK is represented!

Both the OP and ED for NHK are top tier imo

29. ROMA * KIRA - Romantic Killer OP (Romantic Killer song 1 of 2)
https://animethemes.moe/anime/romantic_killer/OP

I didn't get super-attached to this OP - I only watched it maybe five times and this exercise was the first time I've revisited it since I finished the show. But both the song and the animations are quite pretty, and it represents everything you need to know about the show - the silly humor, the video game aesthetic, the male harem, the protagonist, and of course the ubiquitous floating yellow blob. I'll discuss the show a little more once we get to its ED later in the list - but suffice it to say I actually quite like this show, and that's as much why the OP makes it as well as the ED!

I seriously considered nominating the Romantic Killer OP in the contest! I really like the part where she's walking and her surroundings keep changing.

28. Hunting for Your Dream - Hunter x Hunter 2011 ED2 (Hunter x Hunter song 1 of 5)
https://animethemes.moe/anime/hunter_x_hunter_2011/ED2-NCBD1080
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cott-MKdHWA (includes intro)

Man, the the buildup to this - found in the Youtube link - is so key. That's very arguably the best part of the whole song! This arguably could be even higher, but I'm trying for some balance in the list. I think that ultimately the bombastic drama doesn't go quite to the melodic places I'd like to see it, but it's still thrilling.

Animation-wise it's also excellent - love the way it recaps the four primary characters by showing them superimposed against their foe/goal - Gon's father, Killua's brother, Kurapika's spiders that murdered his family, and Leorio's medical exams. We then get a typical pan of a pastiche of good guys, a great transition, and a fade of each of the villains of the arc. So much hype visually!

As for the arc that this belongs to - it's arguably my least favorite HxH arc other than probably the first, but the show's arcs all have great moments and the tone of the show is super-unique. The melodrama absolutely fits this arc, which gets a ton darker and edgier than the first set of episodes, but doesn't dive into hell like a later arc does.

27. Departure! - Hunter x Hunter 2011 OP (Hunter x Hunter song 2 of 5)
https://animethemes.moe/anime/hunter_x_hunter_2011/OPv5-NCBD1080

This is at least partially a Stockholm Syndrome pick. Hunter x Hunter 2011 is nearly 150 episodes long, and I watched the intro for maybe every single one of those, and it maintained the same song throughout. It's kind of generically happy, but at this point it's become incredibly ingrained in my mind; I know almost all of the OPs on this list less than I know this one, with all its ins and outs, buildups, softer parts, climaxes, and recapitulations. It sounds incredibly shounen and at this point I love it.

I've listed the fifth version of this OP, which corresponds to perhaps the best arc of the series. I won't get into the series as a whole for now, but this arc was by far the longest and darkest, and the OP's animations reflect that. It introduces our protagonists, a new threat, new characters both good and evil, and properly ranks them by importance in the video. HxH is unique in the way it discards certain characters for this arc, but man it does it well. Love how the animations sync up to the music too at certain points - the queen ant appearing with the screeching sound effect at 0:03, the clown-face going in sync with the lead-in "YOU JUST TRYYYY AGAIN" at 0:35, for example, or the giant heart character slamming onto the screen with the "YOU CAN TRY."

Mobilezoid posted...

I seriously considered nominating the Romantic Killer OP in the contest! I really like the part where she's walking and her surroundings keep changing.

glad to have a fan of it here! and yes, that part is great - corresponds to the best part of the song too!

Hells yesh Departure on here. I thought it was rediculous that the entire anime has the same OP but I came to enjoy it so much I can't imagine an episode without it.

26. We Were Lovers - Gankutsuou OP (Gankutsuou song 1 of 2)
https://animethemes.moe/anime/gankutsuou/OP-NCBD

What's this? A classical song with English lyrics? Extremely uninformative visuals? I can't deny that being in English really helps Gankutsuou's OP - if I couldn't understand it, it might become a skip. But the song's lyrics, while not referencing the plot of the show, definitely fits the tone of the show - melancholy for lost love and friendship; longing for days when you thought your life would be a happy one; regret that things turned out the way they did.

It all feels like a bit of a prologue for the show, like a lament from the Count himself. Gankutsuou is an extremely unique show visually between its subdued character designs and extremely noisy shading and textures, and of course the tone and plot of the show are both dark enough to pay off an OP like this. To me the OP works all the better because the show is told from the point of view of victims of the Count rather than himself - our POV characters are actually solving the mystery of what's going on, but the OP is an early clue about his past. We'll discuss the show more later!

I honestly don't remember that show's OP or ED at all.

it's a fairly skippable one since it isn't super-catchy and doesn't have (to my knowledge) visual clues for the series.

i actually really like the french voiceover recaps at the beginnings of episodes too

(edit) guessing you probably skipped the ED a lot if you don't remember that though!

25. Brave Shine - Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works Season 2 OP
https://animethemes.moe/anime/fatestay_night_unlimited_blade_works_2nd_season/OP-NCBD1080

Animation quality on this one is insane and the song is beautiful. Everything about it works - the synchronizing of the movements, the character designs, the colors. The more "action-y" part kicking in at around 1:00 is perfectly timed and mostly choreographed, leading down to Shirou and Archer standing in that field.

If I liked this anime more, this might legit be in the top five of the list. Unlimited Blade Works was probably my favorite single visual novel experience back in the day. You have to go through 20-25 hours of Fate to reach it even, and then it's another 20-25 hours of mostly poorly written prose. But Shirou's infuriating narration and the grind of going through every damn shitty description of a theoretical power or action sequence ultimately paid off gigantically. Being trapped behind his eyes, the sound editing during dramatic sentences, and having long runs of the soundtrack - all of it phenomenal.

The anime experience, which I watched almost a decade after the VN, is distinctively not that. Maybe it's knowing the big twist, which can only happen once. But I also think that seeing Shirou from a third person perspective is really different. The love story of the route feels less impactful as well, and you don't get the same impact of seeing Shirou a limited number of times. The few times we do see visuals of Shirou in the VN - almost always fight scenes - actually always feel like payoff. Here, he's just kind of always around and doing whatever stuff, and you feel both less trapped with him and less annoyed by him, and the payoffs just don't feel the same.

For what it's worth, I do like the UBW anime, and might even really like it if I hadn't experienced the VN first. (Sadly I'm also more likely to rewatch UBW than I am to replay F/SN.) I enjoyed it considerably more than Fate/Zero. And of course it's worlds better than the two-hour movie adaptation.

I'll just give two positive takes on the anime/route. First, one of my less preferred scenes in the VN, as I read it, was Shirou versus Archer as he somehow won. It was "epic," but I found the descriptions kind of lame and tedious and not super logical. The anime made it both shorter, which helped to lessen the tedium, and better in quality (though it might also just be my being in a different head space). So there are definitely positives to it.

In contrast, Shirou vs Gilgamesh is probably one of my top three or five fights in all three routes, and while the animation of it was phenomenal, it lasted way shorter in the anime, and the buildup was nowhere near the same (especially since we didn't get F/SN Gilgamesh - though I suppose his run in F/Z builds him up a bit in the ufotable version of this series). The VN could really milk a climactic moment without it feeling like it had overstayed its welcome. The anime's version of the scene even included a short clip of the Emiya song, but of course, we don't get its full impact.

Honestly, coming back to this project, I had completely forgotten this OP. But rewatching it, it's objectively awesome, and I probably will watch it more even if I don't revisit the actual anime. And it reminds me of those fantastic characters and scenes from the route, regardless of adaptation.

Nah, I never skipped EDs. For whatever the reason, I'm just blanking on it.

Brave Shine is excellent. I really liked UBW, but I didn't play the VN. I liked the original F/SN anime, too, even though I know that one isn't as highly regarded.

Not a fan of Fate/Zero, which is one of my anime hot takes, apparently.

I tried getting brave shine in the contest but alas it got cut by cruel rng.

Love both OPs from UBW (and zero)

SeabassDebeste posted...

You have to go through 20-25 hours of Fate to reach it even, and then it's another 20-25 hours of mostly poorly written prose

nobody has ever accused Nasu of being a literary master, but it definitely doesn't help that the F/sn translation is... mediocre at best

people were just so thrilled to actually have it all that it tends to get overlooked

LeonhartFour posted...

Nah, I never skipped EDs. For whatever the reason, I'm just blanking on it.

Brave Shine is excellent. I really liked UBW, but I didn't play the VN. I liked the original F/SN anime, too, even though I know that one isn't as highly regarded.

Not a fan of Fate/Zero, which is one of my anime hot takes, apparently.

think F/Z is kind of edgy for the sake of edginess, which has essentially never worked for me. there are undoubtedly some cool moments in it, but

have you seen heavens feel? if it were on netflix or whatever i definitely would watch it, but i'm too lazy to pirate now or pay for crunchyroll (if it's even there?)

KommunistKoala posted...

Love both OPs from UBW (and zero)

yeah, these were all at least good upon my rewatch. i just didn't develop nearly enough attachment to them to bother including them on this list when they've been represented already!

th3l3fty posted...

nobody has ever accused Nasu of being a literary master, but it definitely doesn't help that the F/sn translation is... mediocre at best

people were just so thrilled to actually have it all that it tends to get overlooked

yeah, to be fair i guess there's a lot of "anime-translation syndrome" in the text. a lot of sentences structured to be dramatic but having nouns out of order or whatever. like in english we might say "mom, you're the real MVP!" but in literal translations we get "mom, the real MVP is you!" which just sounds terrible. still, nasu masturbating to the exact speeds/distances that characters are moving at and explaining reverse causality must have been brutal in japanese too lol

I haven't seen Heaven's Feel yet either. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's available for streaming for free anywhere. You can rent the first movie at least (haven't checked the others) on a few services, looks like.

The Heaven's Feel adaptation is very good and is easily my favorite thing in the Fate/ franchise, even having also read the VN. Unless you're a huge Ilya fan maybe, since she didn't get quite as much time in the spotlight in the movies. All 3 movies are available to rent on Youtube at least in the US, though idk about things like cost or quality (definitely not available legally for free though). Also semi-related but all three ending themes to the movies are among my all-time favorite anime songs >.>

The Gankutsuou OP has always been one of my favorites so I'm glad someone else likes it. I don't have the impression it's that popular though or else I might have nominated it for the OP/ED contest.

24. The Rumbling - Attack on Titan Season 4-2 OP
https://animethemes.moe/anime/shingeki_no_kyojin_the_final_season_part_2/OP-1080

23. Akuma no Ko - Attack on Titan Season 4-2 ED
https://animethemes.moe/anime/shingeki_no_kyojin_the_final_season_part_2/ED-1080

These are the two AoT themes I actually developed a strong memory/attachment to. They have really strong identity and a place in AoT's plot arc.

The Rumbling may not be the most pleasant to listen to, but it revives that feeling of horror and ugliness in the world that the epic fights and drastic widening of the world may have started to lose in earlier seasons. Its sound is kind of instantly iconic - a Chekov's nuke that winds up becoming the point of contention for this arc (and for the series as a whole, because if you allow Eren to pull that trigger then YIKES).

The ED is great. A gentle song that slowly builds with a coherent visual story: Young Eren walks out of the dark, sees the world and ruins, ages... and then finally disappear as he's reaching his goal.

Like many other anime I watched with my partner, I didn't watch all the OPs and EDs of each episode of AoT. I could usually persuade her to watch an OP once per sitting, but we could blow through many episodes in one sitting, and with only 12 or so episodes per song, any given theme would just not get that many reps. Ironically, it's her hatred of S4 that limited us to one episode per sitting, and thus had me watching this set many times.

I haven't kept up perfectly with my MAL and haven't seen that many series lately, but if I'm not mistaken, Attack on Titan is in my top three or so series I've seen in the last decade (with Romantic Killer and HxH as the other two).

I don't know that I have the strongest emotional connection with it, and it doesn't make me laugh the most, and I kind of dislike the characters, but the mystery/mythology/worldbuilding is... maybe best in any anime I've ever seen? (FSN actually might be the next best?) And while I'm not particularly emotionally invested in most of the main characters or anything, it does elicit very visceral reactions due to its unflinching depiction of violence. On top of that, the characters and world seem very intelligent, coming up with actual strategies going into battle and cooking up cunning schemes that really captivate my interest. It's perhaps gotten a little too dark for my taste (and it's annoying that the anime series kind of refuses to end??) but man it's been gripping for me.

World-wise, it's absolutely brilliant, starting humanity off inside of three walls, with a steampunk-y, medieval-esque tech setting. The series throws so many questions at you right away, and it just keeps raising more and more. Weird shit keeps happening - Eren turning into a Titan, Annie being a Titan, two different-looking Titans appearing and disappearing after busting down the outside Wall... through Season 1 and even Season 2, I didn't even really think AoT was going to have real/good answers to this stuff. In general, for most shows in which I'm not deeply invested, I've become a "just accept it" kind of viewer. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense, or the explanation sucks, but you're just there for the cool shit that goes down.

This attitude toward viewing kind of worked for my experience. Right from episode 1 and throughout the first season and a half or so, until beating them becomes trivial, the Titans are straight-up horror movie villains. Yeah, you can kill them later once you learn the rules, but a single fuckup can still result in an extremely gruesome death. And we do see a lot of those fuckups early on. That was enough to make the beginning compelling, but actually evening the odds was needed for it to continue being interesting, and we saw how rapidly the human characters gathered intelligence, identified weaknesses, and sought out new strategies to combat enemies. They'd make inferences as I was making them (identifying Annie as the Female Titan) and have rationale that I hadn't even come up with beyond "foreshadowing/plot kinda indicates this might be true." Humans also wanted deeply to understand Eren's own power and what exactly made Titans tick.

Yet we kept being introduced to more and more mysteries, and even the answer to a single question - say, the identity of the Colossal and Armored Titan, or Ymir's backstory - and be left with a dozen more resulting from the explanation. Fortunately just enough cool stuff was happening to take my mind off it. even with a horrifically annoying set of protagonists (when Eren died, I actually thought he was really dead and that Armin/Mikasa would be our joint protags. Was disappointed when Eren came back, but suffice it to say that at this point, he's no longer your typical shounen lead...)

Then Season 3 hits, and the entire focus of the show... completely changes. Even though the S2 finale was a last hurrah of basic Titans being terrifying enemies, we now quickly pivoted from the obvious external threats to humanity's government itself and killing people. While it didn't result in us getting answers, it was different, and it was also fairly quick. For suckers like me who thought that overthrowing the government would last all season, they actually wrapped that beginning part fairly quickly with the coup. And from there, we finally started getting answers. Was fascinating seeing how Grisha committed so many horrific actions and how that led us to where we were. The first half of S3 also (to me) finally crystallized how the Smart Titans actually functioned, and I imagine that the frustration of the vagueness of these mysteries would be gone if I rewatched S1-2, which would improve my enjoyment of them!

The second half of S3 is action-packed, and its OP reflects that as well. (Love a good battle-arc OP - @KommunistKoala mentioned Kuroko no Basket S3's final OP, which did something similar, and there's another battle-arc OP coming up pretty soon.) And the battle payoffs are indeed incredible - thunder spears, Eren absolutely demolishing Reiner in their rematch, the fall of the Colossal Titan, the charge and Levi versus Zeke - but what may be even more important is the aftermath of those battles, when we FINALLY get to see what's in Grisha's basement and essentially have the core mysteries of the series answered.

It's almost unbelievable how successfully AoT fits it all together and manages to unveil each segment of the mystery in such a compelling way, all while maintaining near-perfect control of the tone of the series (horror to war to battle shounen to politics to mystery) and having characters who are smart enough to solve mysteries, with plot-based limits on their perception that get eventually knocked down as they push past them.

Now, Season 4 is a bit of a different story. I don't want to get too far into it, because I haven't finished the series yet and haven't even really sorted out my feelings on it. But the arc I picked is from it, and I will say that the total reinvention of the show, and the culmination of Eren Jaeger's I'LL KILL THEM ALL has been incredibly compelling, and the action scenes haven't suffered at all. I kind of didn't believe that the Rumbling would actually happen, but now that it's underway, I'm impatiently awaiting the series's conclusion in animation!

One point in favor of AoT's world - I asked my partner randomly this week - do you consider AoT to be fantasy or sci-fi? It's quite a non-trivial question because of the way the world is put together, and I love it for that.

whew, that was a long writeup. i feel some type of way about attack on titan. in the end i think i talked about almost everything i wanted to other than most of S4 and didn't actually have to spoiler out as much as i might have expected!

I'd say Season 4's first OP and Season 3's last ED are my favorites from Attack on Titan

Still waiting on Attack on Titan Season 4 Part 3 Part 1

22. Romantic Love ~ Renai Shimasenka - Romantic Killer ED (Romantic Killer song 2 of 2)
https://animethemes.moe/anime/romantic_killer/ED

Like NHK's, Romantic Killer's ED is kinda wonky - but this one is a lot less abstract. It's a fun listen and rides on the back of the fact that it's not disturbing, but hilarious. The part where Rin keeps popping up wherever Anzu looks is probably my favorite.

Romantic Killer is up there with Attack on Titan as my favorite anime I've seen since COVID hit. I don't encounter a lot of girl-focused anime, so it's nice to have one. It's a harem anime, where the framing device is that the game-loving protagonist gets her life game-i-fied - she gets her video games, chocolate, and cat taken away from her by the weirdly omnipotent Rin until she can get a boyfriend. But of course the game is a dating sim, so it forces hilarious meet-cutes and sleepovers onto Rin, with three romantic interests distinguishing themselves. The visual gags are utterly incredible; Rin's array of reaction faces is unmatched as she tries to resist the forces of the game.

I really hope Romantic Killer gets a second season. It flagged a little at the end of S1 as it got a little more serious, especially in regards to the guy I assume is the true OTP. But the humanizing way it treats men being stalked is definitely good news for the way the show views people in general. I don't know if it sustains S1's quality - would love to see it try, and maybe how it would evolve.

I really don't like skipping the opening when watching anime, so typically if something has a great OP it makes me want to keep going to the next episode right away... but if the OP is generic, boring, or bad, it actually makes me less likely to feel motivated to watch the next episode even if I'm enjoying the show itself. this is definitely irrational but I've noticed it's how my brain works.

Romantic Killer adapted the entire manga. It's done.

MacArrowny posted...

Romantic Killer adapted the entire manga. It's done.

wait what. that's unfortunate - didn't feel like it wrapped things!

MariaTaylor posted...

I really don't like skipping the opening when watching anime, so typically if something has a great OP it makes me want to keep going to the next episode right away... but if the OP is generic, boring, or bad, it actually makes me less likely to feel motivated to watch the next episode even if I'm enjoying the show itself. this is definitely irrational but I've noticed it's how my brain works.

doesn't sound irrational to me! other than i suppose the fact that you can skip the OP if you actually dislike it

Angel Beats: So I'm a sucker for Jun Maeda. I'm currently neck-deep in Heaven Burns Red, which doesn't hurt. I think AB is fantastic, personally, though at the same time it's probably his "worst good" work -- which is to say, I don't think it's on the level of Kanon, Clannad, Little Busters, or Heaven Burns Red, but it's still like a 9/10 for me. The opening is great too, I love the little descending harmony in the background of the big chorus.

DRRR: Definitely the best opening of the series. I agree that the first arc is the strongest, but the second season (cours 3-5) go back into the supernatural a fair bit; you might like them more than the second half of the first season?

Kuroko: I stopped watching when I realized it was a zillion-episode show. But uhhh "It loops around into greatness again when they introduce Zone and laser beams start shooting out of their eyes" maybe I need to watch more.

Tank: bee gonna bop

NKH: i have very... mixed feelings on this show. but it's been long enough that I can't really go into detail; I just remember my reactions.

Romakira: Shrug. ED was a bop though!

Someday I'll watch more HxH. I didn't like the first... 30-odd episodes? However long the test arc is. But I hear enough people rave about it that i should just watch more tbh.

I increasingly doubt I will ever experience the Count of Monte Christo in any form.

Brave Shine too low. Though I prefer the UBW rendition of This Illusion to it, if we're willing to count that as an ED and not an insert song. I kinda want to reread F/SN in JP someday, since while I massively respect Takajun for his work bringing it over, he's not a native English speaker and it shows. But it's so long...

SeabassDebeste posted...

still, nasu masturbating to the exact speeds/distances that characters are moving at and explaining reverse causality must have been brutal in japanese too lol

So I did read the Tsukhime remake in Japanese and I can confirm that yes, yes it is. God why was <spoiler redacted> fight scene so long and overdetailed and *scream* (and yet it was awesome and I still can't wait for the second half sooooo...). Though I actually think the worst thing I've read like this is The Three Body Problem, which makes me wonder if this is just a way that tropes and styles differ in the Sinosphere compared to the Western canon? It's difficult to tell for me -- I have read a ton of things in Japanese that do similar things, but most of them were hugely influenced by Nasu and it's hard for me to tease out what he introduced from what was already there. Heck, F/SN predated The Three Body Problem by several years and for all I know influenced it too.

AoT: The first season's pacing was awful and I never gave it another chance. Maybe I will someday. The OP is interesting, though it mostly makes me want to listen to Existence (Shingeki no Bahamut's OP) again.

@dowolf

DRRR - i'm probably not going to go back to it unless it actually has a main arc that concludes or something. feel like i got enough out of the romp!

kuroko - it's 75ish episodes total, which is definitely long but not the longest for a sports anime. that said even with the laser beams, you probably at least need to kind of like what they're already going for to enjoy it.

hxh gets much deeper and darker almost exactly where you left off - the arc that contains "searching for your dream" spans right around 30-50, and while it's not my favorite, it's actually a huge fan favorite. so you could definitely judge it there, but i wouldn't prioritize it necessarily

sad to hear about count of monte cristo - gankutsuou is a legitimate favorite anime of mine, and the book, while a little tedious, is a good read too.

tsukihime was so bad it nearly made me lose faith in all of you motherfuckers recommending this weeaboo shit. its final two routes are a little better and fate is insanely better but sheeeesh.

i don't see the comparison between three body problem (and the rest of the trilogy) and tsukihime at all. the nerdgasms and precision given in 3BP aren't always riveting reading and it's got some questionable subplots/themes, but it's a relatively hard sci-fi that has zero pure fantasy elements (beyond how advanced the technology can get, and maybe some liberty with the physics) - what are you thinking of here?

can guarantee that AOT's first season is by far its weakest and its slowest (other than arguably S4 which is super-different). S2 doesn't feel much faster but it's about as eventful as S1 in half the time, and at S3 the pacing is pretty perfect. of the ones you've mentioned dropping, this is the one i'd most recommend you resume, if you found the content/tone/plot/mystery in S1 at all compelling!